This morning, the phone rang as usual. I'm really starting to regret sleeping near the telephone. My mom must have waited at the other line for at least a minute before I realised that the loud noise was from the telephone. So I gropped for the reciever and held it to my ear. I could hear my mother's cheery voice on the other line. No matter how hard I tried, I could only manage to make a few noises which sounded like I was still following her conversation. After that, we got changed and went for breakfast. We got onto a private car at 8. We "rented" the driver for 4 hours.
We went to visit the marble mountains. It consists of 5 "mountains", each containing marble. They are named after the five Chinese elements: water, fire, wood, earth and metal. The "mountains" were not more than a hundred metres high. We were approached by a tour guide who wanted to show us around. My dad didn't reject his offer. Oh, and for the whole trip, i thought he was paid as part of our entry tickets. Anyway, he took us around the "water mountain". We climbed all the way to the top and looked down at a cemetry. We also visited caves. The air quality was so bad inside because they burnt insence there. I think the PSI was 100+. Along the way, the guide helped take pictures of all of us. I think he's a trained photographer. He knows how to adjust settings really well so that the picture can be of optimum quality. He can speak limited english, but I think it was a great job since i don't even know one sentence in Vietnamese. Along the way, he talked about the Buddhist teachings and tried to convince us that Christianity and Buddhism were the same. However, we begged to differ. We didn't start a huge debate, but just listened to his points and rebutted a little. I know my parents would have had a lot to say. 2 reasons - 1. My dad is a church elder 2. My mother is the principal of our church's sunday school. As for Jean and I, we just listened. Maybe christians should also be that enthusiastic in sharing their faith.
The base of the mountains are lined with shops selling marble products. But guess what. The guide told us that the marble they used was imported from overseas. This is because the mountains' marble is being conserved. Imagaine if they used this marble. The marble mountains would be really flat by decades ago.
If there was something practical I learnt today, it's this - If you're buying a vase for a plant, marble is better than glass. Ceramic is better than marble. This is mainly because of it's porous features.
After the marble mountains visit, we went back to the car. We were served cold towels and cold bottled water. It made us really happy. (Remember the heat). Next, we headed over to the Cham museum. Cham is some very ancient group of people. The museum contained mostly stone carvings with faces of gods and godesses. A few of them seemed to be beheaded. Apart from the (boring) artefacts, the museum building itself could be an item for showcase. It was non air conditioned and had rather large windows at the sides. The windows had pull-down metal covers to lock up the place. However, they looked rusty and I definitely do not think it's a safe place to live in. The floor was tiled but had many cracks and stains. The walls were slightly cracked and and had fungi growth at the top. The bottom half seemed abused by visitors. It may have been used for vivistors to vent their frustration (kids feeling bored?) by placing their shoe print on the wall. I was yawning while walking as my parents admired the sculptures. Then we entered this art gallery. Suddenly, I saw a plasma TV on the wall. I wanted to jump and clap. This is probably the most advanced item I had seen since I walked out of the resort. Maybe an educational tool! Then suddenly, I saw a video clip of my family walking around the room. You can guess what it was used for.
When we went back to the car, we were served cold towels and cold bottles of water again. By then, my bag was beginning to be somewhat like a water tank. And me, a walking water tank. Anyway, I like this custom. It's really useful with the heat here.
Let me elaborate on driving here. I think drivers place one hand on the horn, and the other on another part of the steering wheel. Then whenever thay see someone, honk! I find their driving style rather interesting, though. I'm also very surprised that I haven't seen any accidents on the road so far.
When we went back, we ate lunch at a different restaurant in this resort. I think here has the only food i trust. Then, we went to play table tennis and billiard. I beat Jean in billiard. As for table tennis, we didn't keep score. Now, I'm typing this. I was also chatting with Jie Ying online.
Later: Going to the beach. I hope i dont get stung by jellyfish. I'm paranoid of them already after seeing so many in a small area yesterday. Also going to eat dinner. My mom is thinking of playing tennis at night. But we already played that last friday.. sigh.
(section dedicated to jie ying: I hope your day gets better later. And don't be so stressed, annoyed, frustrated, blah blah blah.. cheer up! I'll try to meet you online at night)
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